Padfoot's Puppy

Chapter Fourteen

'Not My Hero'

Amber barely noticed as the days flew by. Even with the arrival of Hermione nothing really seemed to change. The only difference was that Fred and George had created extendable ears and were able to eavesdrop on the numerous meetings still held. That only lasted for a few meetings though, Mrs. Weasley discovered what they were doing and destroyed all but a few of the extendable ears. After that, life went back to being boring. Amber hadn't had a real conversation with anyone in ages. Remus or Sirius always talked to her at night, but only for two minutes at the most. They didn't want anyone to find out that Amber really wasn't a dog.

Hermione and the Weasley kids spent the days cleaning. For once, Amber was glad to be a dog, she hated cleaning and the house was filthy. She'd seen some pretty strange, scary-looking creatures lurking in empty rooms. Kreacher seemed to have taken a disliking to her and Amber avoided the house elf the best she could. Dobby had at least been nice and cheerful, not mentally ill.

For awhile Amber listened to the conversations between the Weasleys and Hermione, but after a while she gave up. She didn't understand most of what they talked about, and the rest of what they talked about made her feel depressed, especially when they talked about Hogwarts. Living with the Malfoys, Amber had never really realized how much she was missing out on. When Hermione talked about all the places she'd visited, Amber realized that she'd never even really thought about the world beyond the Malfoy's house and their cabin.

One night something happened the changed the mood inside Grimmauld Place. Amber wasn't sure what happened, the little bit that she understood was that someone had performed magic when they weren't supposed to. Everyone was really nervous and irritable. Amber did her best to stay out of their way after Mrs. Weasley yelled at her for being in the kitchen.

Amber stayed in Ron's room, where he and Hermione were talking in hushed voices. Amber had thought about finding Remus or Sirius to find out what was going on, but Remus had left a while ago with a bunch of other witches and wizards, and Sirius was keeping to himself. Resigned, Amber stayed curled up in a corner, hoping no one would bother her.

Suddenly, the door opened, Pigwidgeon, Ron's owl, started flying madly around the room while Hermione shrieked loudly and threw herself at whoever had opened the door. Amber jumped to her feet, startled, her teeth bared. When she realized what she was doing she quickly shook her head. The longer she stayed a dog, the more dog-like reflexes she was getting.

"HARRY! Ron he's here, Harry's here! We didn't hear you arrive! Oh, how are you? Have you been furious with us? I bet you have, I know our letters were useless - but we couldn't tell you anything, Dumbledore made us swear we wouldn't, oh we've got so much to tell you, and you've got things to tell us – the Dementors! When we heard – and the ministry hearing – it's just outrageous! I've looked it all up, they can't expel you, they just can't, there's a provision in the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery for the use of magic in life-threatening situations –" Hermione was saying. Amber's head hurt from a mixture of all the information and Hermione's loud voice. She could only imagine how the person Hermione was hugging felt.

"Let him breathe Hermione." Ron said, grinning widely as he closed the door. Hermione let go of the person and stepped back. It was a teenage boy, about Ron and Hermione's age. He was shorter than Ron and had untidy black hair. He had green eyes behind glasses. Amber wandered vaguely if she should know who this was. She quickly dismissed this thought, realizing that it didn't really matter if she should know him or not, she didn't know him and that's all that mattered.

Feeling bored, Amber quickly drowned out the voices of the three teenagers as they talked excitedly. She lied back down, wishing that they would just shut up. It was hard for her to think when they kept talking. Glaring at them, Amber got up to leave the room, but stopped dead when the new boy started yelling.

"SO YOU HAVEN'T BEEN IN THE MEETINGS, BIG DEAL! YOU'VE STILL BEEN HERE, HAVEN'T YOU? YOU'VE STILL BEEN TOGETHER! ME, I'VE BEEN STUCK AT THE DURSLEYS' FOR A MONTH! AND I'VE STILL HANDELED MORE THAN YOU TWO'VE EVER MANAGED AND DUMBLEDORE KNOWS IT – WHO SAVED THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE? WHO GOT RID OF RIDDLE? WHO SAVED BOTH YOUR SKINS FROM THE DEMENTORS?" The boy yelled. Amber just stared at him, her eyes opening wide. Her sensitive ears hurt and she resisted the urge to run. To Amber, he seemed a bit ungrateful to his friends, but she didn't know everything that had happened either.

"WHO HAD TO GET PAST DRAGONS AND SPHINXES AND EVERY OTHER FOUL THING LAST YEAR? WHO SAW HIM COME BACK? WHO HAD TO ESCAPE FROM HIM? ME!" The boy yelled. Amber looked at Ron and Hermione. Ron's mouth was half-opened and Hermione looked on the verge of tears.

"BUT WHY SHOULD I KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON? WHY SHOULD ANYONE BOTHER TO TELL ME WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING?" He continued shouting. Already Amber felt dislike towards him, even she knew it wasn't polite to come over to someone else's house and start yelling at people.

"Harry we wanted to tell you, we really did –" Hermione began.

"CAN'T'VE WANTED TO THAT MUCH, CAN YOU, OR YOU WOULD'VE SENT ME AN OWL, BUT DUMBLEDORE MADE YOU SWEAR –"

"Well he did-"

"FOUR WEKS I'VE BEEN STUCK IN PRIVET DRIVE, NICKING PAPERS OUT OF BINS TO TRY AND FIND OUT WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON-"

"We wanted to –"

"I SUPPOSE YOU'VE BEEN HAVING A REAL LAUGH, HAVEN'T YOU, ALL HOLED UP HERE TOGETHER –" Amber couldn't take it anymore, now the boy was just being downright mean. Moving quickly, she bit down hard on his leg before she realized what she was doing.

"Ow! What the –" The boy cried, looking down at Amber. She let go of his leg, horrified by what she'd just one. Ron and Hermione were staring at her, their mouths open, shock written all over their faces. Amber stepped back, certain the boy was going to hit her.

"Wha- who-" The boy stuttered, looking from Amber, to his leg and then back at Amber, disbelief in his eyes. Amber cowered low to the floor, shaking slightly.

"Whose dog is that?" The boy finally said after taking a deep breath. He looked at Ron and Hermione, who looked terrified that he was going to start yelling again.

"That's Snowy, Sirius' dog." Ron finally said, still staring at Amber. The boy, Harry, is that what Hermione had called him, was getting red in the face again.

"So Sirius couldn't even tell me that he got a dog!" He said bitterly, on the verge of yelling again. Hermione and Ron were saved by two loud cracks as the twins suddenly apparated into the room.

"Hello Harry." George said with a grin. "We thought we heard your dulcet tones."

"Snowy bit him!" Ron said quickly. George and Fred stared at their little brother in disbelief and then looked at Amber.

"Snowy bit him." Fred repeated, saying each word with a weird emphasis. Ron nodded and Harry blushed.

"Wow, she's never bit anyone, better watch your back Harry, she'll eat you for sure." Fred said with a grin. Harry blushed again as he quickly changed the subject. Relieved that she wasn't in trouble, Amber slowly slunk out of the room. She decided to go back to her room and hide for a while, in case Harry decided that he really did want to punish her.

Jumping up on her bed, Amber ignored the glare Buckbeak gave her and sat down. Her head was filled with many different thoughts as she tried to figure out who the boy was. Try as she might though, she couldn't figure out who it was.

Amber was so deep in thought that she didn't notice that Sirius had come into the room until Beaky greeted him. Startled, Amber jumped slightly as Sirius sat down on the bed next to her. He'd closed the door, which usually meant that he wanted to talk. Quickly Amber changed back into a human.

"Tonight's been interesting." Sirius stated. Amber waited for him to elaborate on that, but he didn't say anything. Finally, Amber nodded.

"Yup, who is that boy?" She asked, watching Beaky carefully. The Hippogriff had a hungry look in his eye, and Amber had learnt that that usually meant trouble.

"You don't know who that is?" Sirius asked in disbelief, turning to stare at Amber. Amber shifted uncomfortably.

"No, if I knew who it was I wouldn't be asking you." She pointed out. Sirius chuckled and looked at the wall.

"That's Harry Potter." He said. Horror filled Amber as his words sunk in. She'd just bitten Harry Potter, the most famous wizard alive!

"Oh God." Amber muttered, holding her head in her hands. Sirius looked at her curiously.

"What?" He asked. Amber looked up at him, feeling herself blushing.

"I bit him!" She said. Sirius stared at her for a few seconds and then burst out laughing. Amber's face grew hotter and she wished that she was anywhere but here.

"You bit him?" Sirius asked, as if he just couldn't believe it. Amber nodded slowly, wishing that she was invisible.

"Yes, he was yelling at Ron and Hermione and well, it just sort of happened! I didn't mean to, but- " She said, letting her voice trail off. Once he calmed down, Sirius started to say something, but he was interrupted by loud yelling.

"Filth! Scum! By-products of dirt and vileness! Half-breeds, mutants, freaks, begone from this place! How dare you befoul the house of my fathers-" With a sigh Sirius jumped to his feet and Amber quickly changed back into a dog. She couldn't imagine who was yelling now, the voice wasn't Harry's, and no one she'd met so far would start yelling about half-breeds and mutants.

Following Sirius out of the room Amber was surprised to see a portrait of a terrifyingly ugly woman. The portrait had always been covered by curtains and Amber had never heard it yell before.

Feeling slightly frightened, Amber went back into her room. The old woman's screeches soon stopped and she was finally able to think.

She was in the same house as Harry Potter, Draco's enemy, a person she'd been taught to hate. Draco had always told her how cruel and mean Harry was, and so far, Amber had to agree with him. But everyone else here seemed to love him. Amber felt so confused; at least life had been easy to understand with the Malfoys!

From what Harry had said, about him saving some stone and fighting Dementors, it did sound like he was a hero. But were hero's supposed to freak out on their friends? Amber didn't think so. With a sigh Amber glanced back out into the hallway. Sirius was talking to Harry and Amber felt a wave a jealously wash over her. She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the feeling. She had no reason to be jealous, she didn't even like Sirius! Or so she tried to convince herself.

With another sigh Amber looked at Beaky. He was staring out into the hallway; his hungry looked replaced with an interested one. Just because Potter is everyone else's hero, doesn't mean that he has to be mine! Amber thought. And she'd stand by it too.

Author's Note: Don't worry, I don't take it as an insult, and I actually agree with you. That chapter was so hard to write, as I hadn't lived in Amber's head for a few months and I had just finished reading that amazing book which made me take a hit on my self-esteem. I'm going to have to rewrite that chapter at one point; I apparently didn't make something clear in it. I hope this chapter is better.